Pierce Refuses To Testify Before House Appeal

September 27, 1989|Los Angeles Times

WASHINGTON -- In an action without precedent since the Teapot Dome scandal, Samuel R. Pierce Jr. on Tuesday invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and refused to testify about political favoritism during his eight-year tenure as secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

Pierce, appearing under subpoena, accused the House Government Operations Subcommittee of prejudging him and not allowing him enough time to prepare testimony about charges of influence-peddling, mismanagement and waste while he was secretary.

``The subcommittee`s desire to rush me through this process ... leads me to the painful conclusion that I have been prejudged by this body,`` said Pierce, the only black member of President Ronald Reagan`s Cabinet.

Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., chairman of the panel, rejected the charges of bias and said Pierce, 67, was only the third Cabinet member in U.S. history to take the Fifth Amendment before a congressional committee. The other two instances involved the Teapot Dome inquiry in the 1920s.

Living up to the ``Silent Sam`` nickname that reflected his low-profile Cabinet style, Pierce spent less than 45 minutes in the witness chair and quietly, almost placidly, relied on his constitutional right not to talk.

To each of eight questions posed by Lantos, the former prosecutor and New York City judge answered: ``On the advice of counsel and for the reasons given in my opening statement, I respectfully decline to answer the question and I assert the rights guaranteed me by the Fifth Amendment.``

In a brief opening statement, however, Pierce held out the possibility that he might change his mind and testify on the scandals exposed by the House investigation since it began hearings into HUD affairs last May. He remains under subpoena for appearances on Oct. 27 and Nov. 3.

Some members of Congress said they might ask the Justice Department to seek appointment of a special prosecutor to look into possible wrongdoing at HUD, especially if Pierce continues to refuse to answer questions. The Justice Department has opposed naming an independent counsel in the widening case, but a spokesman said on Tuesday, ``We are aware that Pierce is covered by the (independent counsel) act.``

Noting that Pierce was the fourth former HUD official to resort to the Fifth Amendment to avoid answering questions, Rep. Bruce A. Morrison, D-Conn., said: ``There`s a question of criminal conduct by someone, somewhere over at the top of HUD.``

Earlier, Pierce`s former executive assistant, Deborah Gore Dean, also declined to testify on grounds of possible self-incrimination. Her predecessor as Pierce`s top aide, Lance Wilson, has indicated he will do the same when called as a witness today. Hunter Cushing, a former deputy assistant secretary of HUD who is now a high-ranking official in the Department of Commerce, also has invoked the Fifth Amendment.

At Tuesday`s hearing, Lantos asked Pierce to explain an announcement by then-President Reagan of the awarding of a $6 million HUD grant for Ewing, N.J., during a New Jersey campaign appearance in 1982 on behalf of GOP Senate candidate Millicent Fenwick.

The congressman questioned how that announcement was consistent with Pierce`s statement in his May testimony that the housing program was not run on a political basis.

`I can`t see how it could be any more political,`` Lantos said.

Lantos showed copies of a Sept. 17, 1982 memo in which Pierce was informed by a deputy that ``the president, who is en route to New Jersey, has agreed to fund, with Section 8 new construction funds,`` the 125-unit housing project.

The memo bears Pierce`s initials and the handwritten word ``noted.``

``If you don`t elect her as senator, we`ll take (the project grant) away,`` Reagan reportedly joked during the campaign appearance with Fenwick, who lost the election to Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J.

As in the case of other questions, Pierce refused comment.

At Pierce`s request, television cameras and radio microphones were shut off and news photographers were barred during his appearance under a seldom- used House rule that allows witnesses under subpoena to insist on a partial media blackout.

His attorney, Paul L. Perito, later said of Pierce: ``This man is innocent. He has nothing to hide.``

HUD Secretary Jack Kemp, who has concluded that his predecessor was a ``poor manager,`` has estimated that HUD lost or wasted about $2 billion because of waste, mismanagement and influence-peddling during the Reagan administration.

In justifying his silence, Pierce said he originally cooperated with the panel but decided at the end of July that he had become a target of the inquiry. As a result, he and his attorneys had to screen 48 boxes of documents and a computer printout, 6 inches thick, of his correspondence at HUD from 1984 to 1988.